AGROUP of 11 and 12-year-olds bustled around the common room in St Mary’s Hall at Stonyhurst College.

They were surrounded by glue sticks and maps of battlefields, project books filled with their best handwriting and faded photographs of tragically young soldiers who fought in the First World War, some only a few years older than themselves.

These pupils were taking part in a tradition that has run for more than 18 years at the Ribble Valley college, one that commemorates the lives of the 167 Stonyhurst ‘old boys’ who fell in the First World War.

Each child selected a soldier and researched into his life at Stonyhurst, his achievements and the circumstances of his death during the war.

The project, led by history master Paul Garlington, ended in a battlefield tour, where the children tried to locate and honour the grave of their chosen soldier.

Marta, 12, talked passionately about the bravery of Francis J Woodlock, who returned from America to join up, despite hearing about the horrors of the battlefield.

Marta had a deep connection with 2nd Lieut Woodlock and told me: “You can learn so much about the soldiers, they would be so happy to know that we still care.

“I learned that he was remembered by relatives as ‘merry and full of fun’ as a child.

“I am also told that by the time he met his death at the battle of Battle of Passchendaele, after serving only a month on the front line, the young man’s ‘naturally joyous’ disposition had been destroyed by the horrors he witnessed.

“He was killed by a single shot to the heart and his name later inscribed on the Menin Gate.”

Eleven-year-old Grace is touched by the details she has discovered about Raymund Binns, a talented artist who co-designed the Stonyhurst crest.

He was a young married father, who observed quietly to a relative shortly before volunteering: “I feel the times call for something a bit heroic”.

He died in 1916 leading his men over-the-top in a push to take Contalmaison during one of the Battles of the Somme.

Said Grace: “It was an amazing opportunity, but the visit to the Somme and its battlefield cemeteries made me very emotional. It was overwhelming to think that each of the graves contained a brother or son. If my brother had to fight in a war like that it would kill me.”

Mr Garlington believes the project plays a vital role in helping the children to understand the events of World War One.

“For me, it’s important that the children learn how to commemorate and to understand the sacrifices their ancestors made.

“What better way to do this than to study the lives of soldiers who once went to the same school as them?”